IME Listening is an Input Method Editor (IME) based on Speech Recognition and Text-to-Speech (TTS).  It is intended for eyes-free text entry in any application.

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If you have used Dictator or Text Talk, you are already very familiar with how IME Listening works.  If not, then read on!

IME Listening

The big feature is this IME gives you access to the Speech Recognition’s Additional Results (up to 20) to increase your chances of success without typing.

How many times has this happened:

1. Use Speech Recognition
2. The Number One answer is “off” by a couple words
3. Use the keyboard to “clean it up”

Well here’s a secret:  the “real” answer is probably available, but got thrown away!

With IME Listening you can concentrate on entering whole sentences, instead of pecking your way through words.

Accessibility

IME Listening uses Android’s Content Description to make every user interface element labelled for Screen Readers.  Even the Candidate View (see below), which displays abbreviated text, has the Content Description adjusted to the full text.

Eyes-free

IME Listening has these features so you can use it without the screen for as long as possible:

• Vibrate prompt so you know when to start speaking.
• TTS read-back of the Number One Speech result.
• Use Volume keys to activate commands.

Candidate View

IME Listening’s Candidate View (the window displaying “suggestions”) uses a novel visual format to highlight the differences.

Typically in the up to 20 results returned from Speech Recognition, the candidates differ by only one or two words in a small number of positions.  We take advantage of that to avoid repeating e.g. 10 words when only one is changed.

Compose Text

The Candidate View makes sense when used together with the Compose Text (the text before you say “Ok”) which uses the same visual format, and serves as the “map” for the other candidates.  For example, a “green” word in the Compose Text matches up with any “green” word in the candidates.

Where regions overlap, additional visual attributes are added.

Complementary

Nothing is perfect; we won’t claim you’ll never need the keyboard, but you will need it much less, because of the quality of current Speech Recognition technology.

IME Listening makes it easy for you to quickly switch to another IME of your choosing (application setting), or you can use the system-provided IME selection method (varies by Android version).